Who doesn’t want to run faster?
Whether you’re a dedicated distance runner who’s always chasing a new PR, a weekend warrior training for your next 5K, or an athlete looking to gain an edge on the field or court, speed is a game-changer.
The ability to accelerate quickly, sustain a faster pace, and improve overall running efficiency can make all the difference in performance—whether you’re sprinting toward the finish line, chasing down an opponent, or simply trying to feel stronger on your daily runs.
With the right training, you can develop greater power, stride efficiency, and turnover to become a faster, more explosive runner.
In this guide, we’ll break down specific exercises to run faster that will help you improve your speed, from plyometrics and strength training to running workouts.
What Are the Best Workouts to Get Faster?
When you first start running or working out, improvements in your speed and endurance are relatively easy to come by.
As long as you’re following a sensible and progressive training plan, you will likely find that almost any type of running workout helps you get faster.
However, over time, as you get really fit and fast, your sprinting speed or overall running pace may level off, and you might feel like you’ve reached a fitness plateau.
If you’re not continually giving your body a new or progressively challenging stimulus by changing or ramping up your training, your progress can stall.
For this reason, when you’re trying to do workouts to run faster, it’s important to include enough variety in your exercise routine to ensure your body never gets too accustomed to what you’re doing.
Some of the best speed workouts to run faster are running-specific workouts.
For high-intensity exercises such as these, make sure to warm up and cool down to minimize the risk of injury.
#1: Intervals
Intervals are set distances or time blocks run at a specific pace or rate of perceived exertion — typically at race pace, slightly faster, or VO2 max pace, depending on your goals, the race distance you’re training for, and the length of each interval.
Between each effort, you take a structured recovery period — usually easy jogging or walking — before going again.
This work-rest structure is what makes intervals so effective for building speed. By repeatedly pushing into uncomfortable effort levels and then recovering, you train your body to run faster while also improving your ability to sustain harder paces over time.
For example, you might run 12 x 400m at goal 5K pace with 90 seconds of easy jogging between each rep. As your fitness improves, you can increase the number of reps, shorten the recovery, or push the pace.
#2: Fartlek Runs
A fartlek run — Swedish for “speed play” — involves varying your pace throughout a continuous run by adding bursts of faster running without fully stopping or structured recovery between efforts.
Unlike formal intervals, fartlek is more fluid and adaptable, making it a great introduction to speed work or a lower-pressure way to add faster running to your training week.
Because you keep moving between surges rather than stopping to rest, fartlek trains your body to recover while still running — a skill that pays off directly in racing.
For example, you might do a 4-mile fartlek run with 10 x 90-second surges at 5K pace, returning to your normal easy training pace between each effort. The “recovery” periods are entirely up to you — run them by feel rather than watching the clock.
#3: Hill Sprints
Hill sprints are one of the most effective — and most underused — workouts for getting faster. Applicable for distance runners and sprinters alike, they involve running hard up a hill with good form and quick turnover, then recovering fully before going again.
What makes hill sprints so valuable is that the incline forces you to drive your knees, pump your arms, and stay on your toes — all mechanics that directly translate to faster running on flat ground.
Because you’re working against gravity with every stride, you’re essentially combining resistance training and speed work into a single session, building strength and power simultaneously without the joint stress of flat sprinting.
A typical session might consist of 8 to 10 10-second hill sprints on a moderate grade, with a full walk-down recovery between each rep. Keep the efforts short and maximal — these are not tempo efforts. The goal is explosive power, not endurance.
#4: Accelerations or Strides
Strides are among the simplest and most accessible tools for improving speed — and they can be added to almost any training week without a meaningful recovery cost.
They involve running 75 to 100 meters, gradually accelerating from a fast pace to a near-sprint over the course of the effort, then decelerating smoothly and walking back to the start.
The goal isn’t to go all-out from the first step — it’s the controlled build that makes strides useful.
By practicing smooth acceleration and fast turnover in short bursts, you train your neuromuscular system to recruit fast-twitch muscle fibers more efficiently, improving your running economy and your ability to shift gears during a race.
Most runners do 4 to 6 strides after an easy run or before a workout as a primer. They take only a few minutes and leave you feeling loose, quick, and ready to run.
#5: Speed Training With Resistance
Speed training with resistance takes your sprint training up a level by adding an external load — a weighted sled, a parachute, or a resistance band held by a partner — that forces you to work harder than normal to maintain your speed and form.
The principle is straightforward: when you sprint against resistance, your muscles must generate more force with each stride. Over time, that builds the kind of explosive power that translates directly to faster running.
And there’s an additional benefit — when the resistance is removed, your body feels lighter and faster than it did before, which can help reinforce proper mechanics and top-end speed in a way that’s difficult to replicate with unresisted sprinting alone.
Sled pulls are the most popular version for runners, but resistance bands and parachutes work just as well if a sled isn’t available.
Keep efforts short — 20 to 40 meters — with full recovery between reps. Form matters: stay tall, drive your arms, and don’t let the resistance pull you into a forward lean from the waist.
#6: Tempo Runs
Tempo runs, also called threshold runs, involve running at a sustained effort right around your lactate threshold — typically for at least 20 minutes continuously.
The goal is to push your body to the edge of what it can sustain aerobically and hold it there. Here’s why that matters: your lactate threshold is the point at which lactate accumulates in your muscles faster than your body can clear it.
Once you cross that line, fatigue sets in quickly — your legs get heavy, your pace crumbles, and the effort becomes unsustainable. Tempo runs train your body to push that threshold higher, so you can run faster before hitting that wall.
Physiologically, your lactate threshold sits at roughly 83–88% of your VO2 max — the pace you could sustain at maximum effort for about an hour of racing.
In practical terms, this is what runners call a “comfortably hard” pace. You’re working, but you’re in control. You can speak in short phrases, but not hold a conversation.1Cerezuela-Espejo, V., Courel-Ibáñez, J., Morán-Navarro, R., Martínez-Cava, A., & Pallarés, J. G. (2018). The Relationship Between Lactate and Ventilatory Thresholds in Runners: Validity and Reliability of Exercise Test Performance Parameters. Frontiers in Physiology, 9(1320). https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2018.01320
For most runners, tempo pace lands about 25 to 30 seconds per mile slower than 5K race pace. So if your goal 5K pace is 8:40 per mile (27:00 finish), your tempo pace should be approximately 9:05–9:10 per mile (5:35–5:38 per kilometer).
A standard tempo workout might be a 1-mile easy warm-up, 20 to 40 minutes at threshold pace, and a 1-mile easy cool-down. As your fitness builds, you can extend the tempo portion or break it into cruise intervals — two or three blocks of 10 to 15 minutes at tempo pace with short recovery jogs between.
8 Strength Exercises to Run Faster
In addition to running-specific workouts to run faster, you can improve your leg speed and power by performing exercises that strengthen the muscle groups in your legs and core.
Such exercises are also a form of strength training that will lower your risk of injury and help to improve your running form.
The following are some of the best exercises to build leg muscle and other muscles in the lower body to help you run at a faster pace:
#1: Explosive Step-Ups
Step-ups are a fantastic exercise for increasing running speed because they strengthen the key muscles involved in running and sprinting, such as your glutes, hamstrings, quads, calves, and core.
To progress the exercise beyond just your bodyweight, use dumbbells for added resistance, explode upward on the step-up portion, and slowly step backward down.
The explosive power should come from your glutes, which will help drive your leg forward when you run.
#2: Bulgarian Split Squats
Rear-foot-elevated split squats, or Bulgarian split squats, are a good unilateral strength-training exercise for runners.
They’ll build muscle in your entire lower body and core.
For maximum effectiveness in terms of using this one of our exercises to run faster, perform the eccentric phase (lowering down) as slowly as possible, and then explode back up.
#3: Single-Leg Romanian Deadlifts
This is a great exercise for running faster because it isolates each leg in turn, mimicking the unilateral demands of running.
You’ll strengthen your glutes, hamstrings, and core.
Instead of performing each rep slowly, lower the weight slowly, then explode back to the starting position.
This will help develop the power you need to run faster.
#4: Box Jumps
Jumping onto a plyometric box with both feet builds explosive strength that can translate into faster running.2Lum, D., Tan, F., Pang, J., & Barbosa, T. M. (2016). Effects of intermittent sprint and plyometric training on endurance running performance. Journal of Sport and Health Science, 8(5). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jshs.2016.08.005
Gradually increase the height of the box you use as you get stronger.
#5: Jumping Rope
Jumping rope is a great way to get in some footwork and increase your cadence.
Jump as low to the ground and as quickly as possible to improve your turnover as much as possible. Keep your core tight and glutes engaged.
#6: Squats
Few exercises to run faster and get stronger are complete without squats.
As with the other exercises here, perform the eccentric phase slowly, then focus on accelerating upwards as fast and powerfully as possible.
#7: Depth Jumps
This tough plyometric exercise is great for developing explosive speed for running faster.
Because you start on a raised box rather than the floor, this exercise has a strong eccentric (lowering) muscle action.
Therefore, you get the true stretch-shortening cycle necessary to fully activate the central nervous system.
This, in turn, increases muscle firing rates and increases the force the muscles can generate.
Start on a plyo box that’s 6-30 inches high, depending on your experience level.
To perform the exercise, step down, one foot at a time, as if you’re sort of falling into the ground, storing energy in your legs.
As soon as both of your feet have landed, jump as high as you can, straight into the air, without pausing or lowering into a preparatory partial squat.
To boost your power and momentum, thrust your arms upward as you jump. Land softly with your knees bending to absorb the load of your body. Pause and rest before doing another rep.
#8: Medicine Ball Burpees
Regular burpees can certainly be useful for running faster in your workouts, but adding a medicine ball takes everything up a notch.
You’ll perform the same basic burpee (squat, down to push-up, then explode up to a vertical jump), but all while holding onto a medicine ball.
The medicine ball makes squats and vertical jumps more challenging because it adds resistance.
Driving your arms straight overhead while holding the medicine ball helps build gluteal power, which can help you run faster.
Moreover, you’ll get a killer core-strength workout and really challenge your upper body with the push-up portion.
Try to do the push-up with your hands on either side of the medicine ball or at the top.
By reducing your base of support and placing your hands on an unstable surface, you’ll really have to activate your core.
For each exercise, perform 3 sets of 6-8 reps. Focus on proper form, high resistance, and power.
Between the running workouts, the leg and core strength exercises, and a commitment to keeping your training program varied, it should be possible to run faster.
For a complete list of different types of running workouts to keep your training well-varied, check out our guide:
References
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